How to Conduct a Social Media Audit

By Kristina King, SEO & Social Media Consultant at Main Street ROI

 

We’re big believers in having a plan in place for all aspects of digital marketing, from SEO to advertising and social media. Without a roadmap, how can you get to your destination? When it comes to social media, it’s easy to fall into the habit of simply posting what you feel like sharing and letting the chips fall where they may. By coming up with a plan, you’ll get a better return on the time and money you invest in social media—and you can’t develop a plan until you conduct a social media audit.

 

 

What Is a Social Media Audit? A social media audit takes a comprehensive look at your presence on all social media platforms. It involves looking at analytics to assess growth, finding new opportunities, and identifying areas where you can improve. What Does a Social Media Audit Include? Here’s what a social media audit should include: List of All Social Media Platforms You don’t have to include any profiles that have been deleted or hidden from public view, but do include profiles that are live on social media sites but inactive (i.e., you’re still on the platform, but you no longer post there regularly). In your audit, include: The URL List of people with administrative access Number of followers One additional step to take here is to look for unauthorized profiles and impostors. You might not think your business is big enough for scammers to want to impersonate you on social media, but you may be surprised by what you find! Pages can pop up with a similar name to yours posting fake like-and-comment giveaways, or they might just be looking to generate interest in their own business by piggybacking off of yours. You can report unauthorized social media profiles to the appropriate network; often, you’ll find information about how to handle this on the FAQ or contact page. Profile Information Your social media profiles should be consistent across all platforms and all applicable fields should be filled out. This is an important part of your social media audit because it’s common for social media networks to introduce new fields, like information about safety protocols. Make sure: Your business name is the same on all profiles. This includes its spelling, capitalization, and any punctuation. You use the same logo and branding on all profiles. Engagement Metrics Now that you have the basics taken care of, it’s time to start digging into your social media analytics. To assess engagement, look at: Your top-performing posts on all platforms Social media analytics per platform If one of your goals is to generate leads or website traffic, you’ll also want to take a look at your Google Analytics account to see what kind of traffic you’re getting from social media and understand the behavior of those visitors. Are they making a purchase? Booking an appointment? Do they click around your website to read different pages, or are they bouncing quickly? Part of your social media plan may need to include changes to your website to keep your visitors engaged. Audience Demographics Who is your audience on social media? Is it the audience you want to be reaching? What does the demographic data from your social media accounts tell you about your clients and customers? For this component of your social media audit, include all of the data you can gather: Age Gender Devices used Location Income Education Competitor Research Another component of a social media audit is to review your competitors’ social media profiles and messaging. Questions to ask include: What platforms do your competitors use? Are you active on those platforms as well? How much engagement are your competitors getting on their posts? What type of content are they sharing or producing on social media? Which types of content get the most traction? Reassess (or Make) Goals If you already have some social media goals in place, now is the time to reassess them. Otherwise, take a look at the data you’ve gathered and make some goals centered around what you want to accomplish with your social media presence. After your audit, you should have a good idea of what goals you should be tracking and if you need to update your social media KPIs. Some potential social media goals include: Increasing brand awareness Generating leads Increasing engagement Increasing traffic to your website Growing followers You don’t have to choose only one of these goals; feel free to pick a few to focus on. It’s also worth noting that some social media platforms are better at helping you reach these goals than others. For example, Instagram is great for brand awareness, but it lags behind Facebook when it comes to boosting website traffic. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each social media platform is important when determining your goals. What to Do Next With all of this information collected and your new goals in mind, take a step back and ask yourself a few more questions: Are users coming from your social media platforms to your website? What information did you find that can be used to create additional campaigns? Are there additional channels your business should be on? Are there some inactive profiles that you should delete in order to be more active where it counts? Regarding this last question, there are some consultants who will tell you that you should have a presence on every single social media platform; often, these people have a vested interest in getting you to set up shop on obscure or outdated networks because they want to make money running your profiles! We believe you’re better off focusing on the platforms that bring you results and make sense for your business, brand, and audience. It’s better to delete or hide inactive accounts instead of leaving them up. This prevents people from following you on these platforms and expecting updates about your business. Need Help with Social Media? We provide one-time social media projects (audits and plans) as well as ongoing monthly social media management services. Click here to request a social media quote

 

 

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